In 2022 the Association régionale des cités-jardins d'Ile-de-France organized the international congress 'Garden cities for the 21st century', which can be viewed online.
Since the 1980s, garden cities have been the subject of symposia, conferences and publications that have made it possible to better understand this heritage and its concept in its entirety and in their individual stories. This history has been written at the local, national, European and global levels.
For many of them, faced with land pressure and urban renewal, the garden cities remain an important marker of the history of popular housing at the beginning of the 20th century and the interwar period.
This symposium, which was held at the Suresnes Jean-Vilar Theatre, aimed to put into perspective different dimensions of a common heritage, resulting from a concept of garden city developed by Ebenezer Howard in 1898. An inventory, a comparative approach and the enunciation of possible futures are expected. During four half-days, themes addressed were the issues of valorization, preservation, living in the garden cities and how this concept can serve as a model today. Researchers, residents, communities and architects exchanged on these themes through conferences and round tables. The themes were addressed transversally the dimension of buildings and outdoor spaces, at different scales that embrace collective spaces of sociability, the materiality of places, representations and practices.
The symposium program can be seen here. The entire symposium is available on the association's YouTube's channel.
